Places of the Past, Gone but not Forgotten ?

• Anhalter Bahnhof (Railway Station) Originally one of the largest stations in Europe.

• AVUS Probably doen't belong here, strictly speaking, since it is still in use as a racetrack, occasionally. The Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungs-Straße was built between 1913 and 1921. It is 9,8 km. long, and runs between Nikolassee and the Grunewald. It is considered to be the first stretch of Autobahn to be built, and was also the fastest racetrack in the World in its other guise.

  Note - Manfred von Brauchitsch 22. Mai 1932 Mercedes SSKL

  Since 1968, chicanes have been introduced which have obviously reduced the speed possible.

• Berolina Haus Peter Behrens

• Cafe des Westens on the Kudamm / Joachimstrasse. Known by the philistines as Cafe Megolamania.

• Castle Situated at the center of old "Berlin" or Coelln to be more precise, from which the buildings on the Linden spread as Berlin grew in importance. The castle had grown piecemeal around Friedrich Irontooth's 'Coercion Castle'. Occupied by mutinying sailors in 1918-19, and the scene of heavy fighting as right-wing military forces tried to gain control. Demolition was started on 7. September 1950 and finished in 1951, apart from the balcony where Karl Liebknecht declared a socialist republic, which was incorporated into another building ( this was also the same balcony from which Kaiser Wilhelm 2. announced the start of World War 1 ).

• Charlottenburg Tor

• Central Market. in the area of Alexanderplatz.

• Columbia House 10-storey building by Eric Mendelsohn on the PotsdamerPlatz. Replaced the Grand Hotel Bellevue.

• Eden Hotel, opposite the entrance to the Zoo ( Budapester Strasse / Ecke Kufüstenstrasse ). Rosa Luxemburg was held and beaten here, prior to her murder at the nearby Lichtenstein Bridge.

• Graue Kloster former monastery which became a school. Bismarck was a pupil there.

• Hörchers   Famous restaurant in Lutzowstraße. Goering was able to get credit here in about 1927 onwards in order to fully act as a representative of the Nazi Party. His fame as a First World war pilot was probably helpful in getting this credit, because otherwise his finances were less than brilliant. As Goering's star rose, Hörcher's rose too - he acquired major restaurants in Wien (Vienna) and Paris (Maxime's), Oslo (2), Talinn and Riga. The Berlin restaurant was closed down by Goebbels in 1943, Goering said he wasn't going to open it up again so Goebbels sent round a 'gang' to wreck the place. Hörcher escaped to Madrid where the restaurant he founded there is still open, run by his son.

• Johannistal Airport, in Treptow. Aircraft flights were first given here in 1908, by H. Grade.

  In 1912, Fokker opened a factory here, although within about a year, he had re-located to Schwerin.

• Kaiserhof Hotel 1875. Wilhelmsplatz, opposite the Imperial Chancellery.

  It was used as the venue for the Berlin Conference of 1878, which was intended to stop Russian expansion in the Balkans.

  Used as a base by Hitler from 1930 onwards, who used the top floor. Goebbels used to regularly invite Hitler home becasue he feared that Communists in the kitchen might be poisoning his food..

• Kroll Opera House Built 1851 on the edge of the Sahara, to replace an earlier establisment of 1844 which had burned down. It was used for Reichstag meetings after the fire. It was demolished after the war.

• Kühle Wampe, on the Großer Muggelsee

• Luisenstadtkanal Built in 1848-1852, during which time several strikes and revolts took place. It was filled in in 1926 - you can follow the course along Segitzdamm and Erkelenzdamm

• Luna Park, on Halensee

• The U2 in the region of the wall was previously used as a testbed for a Magnetobahn. Unfortunately, with reunification, this test railway was required to move so the the U-Bahn could be rebuilt.

• Meyer's Hof, Wedding

• Mullröse

• No Man's Land restricted area adjacent to the Wall.

No Man's Land north of the Reichstag 1993 (Spreebogen). Now occupied by the new German goverment offices.

• Observatory in Kreuzberg
  

  On 26. September 1846, the planet Neptune was discovered from the Berlin Observatory (above), which was situated in the present-day Enckestrasse, just South of Checkpoint Charlie.

  For further details, see Astronomy in Berlin.

• Ochsenkopf, Alexanderplatz

• Original Nazi Party HQ at Potsdamerstraße 109, under Joseph Goebbels. It was later moved to new premises at Lützowstraße 44.

• Palace see Castle.

• Petrikirche in Cölln. Probably dated from the end of the 11th century. Its cemetery is maybe 30 years older.

• Plumpe Former home of Hertha Berlin, until 1963. See Plumpe

• Polizeiprasidium THe police building once used to dominate the Alexanderplatz.

• Romanisches Cafe, opened in 1919. It took over the role of the Cafe des Westens when it closed. Home of the Dada movement. Site now occupied by the Europa Center.

• Sahara became Königsplaz, in front of the Reichstag.

• Siegesallee, between Königsplatz and Rolandsplatz. It was completed in 1901, and was lined by 32 marble statues, by Rheinhold Begas, commemorating the achievements of 32 Hohenzollern princes. Max Liebermann blamed the Kaiser for forcing him to wear dark glasses for the rest of his life, so that he would not have to see it. Nicknamed the Puppenallee by the Berliners, it was dismantled by the Allies in 1947.

• Reich Chancellery The Chancellery was completed in January 1939, and took up the entire length of Voss strasse (400m). Designed by Speer, it incorporated the old chancellery building - the 18. Century Radziwill Palace.

• Sportspalast Potsdamer Straße 72 / Ecke Pallasstrasse. It was opened in 1911, billing itself originally (and dubiously) as the "biggest ice palace in the world". It soon ran into financial problems, which led to diversification, e.g. staging 6-day cycle races which proved to be a great success.

  Hitler spoke here for the first time in November 1928. It was here that, in February 1943, Goebbels declared 'total war'.

  It was demolished in 1974.

• Re-routing of Spree / Havel in the Spandau area.

• Romantisches Cafe

• Spandau Prison was situated at Wilhelmstrasse 23, flanked by British Army barracks.

Sportpalast Potsdamer Strasse. Used before the war by the nazi Party for mass rallies. Used for six-day cycle races.

• Stadion der Weltjugend held 70.000 spectators. Required demolition of the old guards barracks. 4 months. Walter Ulbricht.

• Tempodrom from its original site, anyway, in the Tiergarten.

• UFA Palast am Zoo silent pictures were accompanied by a 45-piece orchestra.

• Tempelhof mediaeval establishment of the Knights Templars. Berlin / Cölln followed a widespread pattern by establishing a town adjacent to a religious establishment.

• Wall No. 1 Enclosing Berlin / Cölln.

• Wall No. 2 - (Festungsgrabe and Festungsring). Built after the Thirty Year War, which ended in 1648, it took 25 years to build. The Festungsgrabe was a moat outside the wall. In the 1730s, Leipziger Strasse was cut thru the wall, rendering it useless, after which Friedrich Wilhelm 1. decided to tear it down (1734), and replaced it with a new wall. The site of the old fortifications in the region of the Linden were soon covered by Friedrich's Forum Fredericanum (region of the Opera House).

• Wall No. 3 (die Zollmauer) built in the 1730s,finished 1738. 6 meters high and 14,5 (13.7??) kilometers long, with 14 gates.

  It could not be considered to be an effective defensive wall - in fact any military purpose was different from the 'conventional' role, in this case it was to keep the soldiers in - it helped to stop desertion. As its usual name implies, it made it easier to stop smuggling and raise taxes. Naturally, it could also keep out "undesirables".

  Originally it was built out of wood, but was re-built in stone over a 15-year period ending in 1802. This new wall was about 4.2 meters high and stretched for over 17 kilometers. The area enclosed by the wall contained enough land to allow new building until the mid 19. Century.

  It was demolished in the 1867/8, and duties on meat and flour abolished.

  Its gates were as follows (with adjacent squares).

  • Hallesche Tor - Rondell ( later Belle-Alliance-Platz ,today Mehringplatz). The photograph below shows a view from the Elevated railway towards Belle-Alliance-Platz in 1878. Compare it with the more recent 'picture' below it, which shows a modern view in the opposite direction.
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  • Potsdamer Tor - Achteck (today Leipziger Platz)
  • Brandenburger Tor - Quarre (today Pariser Platz)
  • Kottbusser Tor
  • Schlesische Tor
  • Hamburger Tor
  • Rosenthaler Tor
  • Schönhauser Tor
  • Oranienburger Tor
  • Prenzlauer Tor
  • Bernauer Tor
  • Landsberger Tor
  • Frankfurter Tor
  • Stralauer (Mühlen-) Tor
  plus two 'Wassertore' - bridges over the Spree

• Wall No. 4 In the West, followed the line of the previous Zollmauer fairly closely - obviously at the Brandenburger Tor it followed it exactly.

• Zeitungsviertel

• In der Zelten In 1745, two hugenots had been allowed to set up refreshment tents near the Spree. From 1767, the tents had been replaced by brick and wooden structures and other bars and coffee houses etc. opened The new Congress Hall on the site ( a gift from America ) is designed to imply a tent, but has been taken by Berliners to be reminiscent of an oyster.

• Zirkus Busch, Monbijouplatz

  Paul Busch opened his circus in 1895 in the Bahnhof Börse in Berlin. The First World War produced a severe setback, with animals being confiscated and the poor economic conditions prevailing.

  In November 1918, the Zirkus was the meeting place for an assembly of delegates of the new Räter (Soviets).

  In the twenties had competition from the new cinemas, varieties and cabarets. Paula Busch, Paul's daughter attempted to keep the circus going. In 1937, the building itself become victim to Speer's plans for Berlin and was demolished. The circus itself kept going by taking over the Jewish-run Zirkus Straßburger, and traveling thru Deutschland. At the end of the war, they returned to Berlin and in 1946 performed in the open air in the Zoologischen Garten.